Is Ecology/Conservation a difficult career to enter?

[SpinelessBastardsAll]

DS is halfway through his A-levels of Geog, Biology and Environmental Science. He would dearly love to go to University to study Ecology and Conservation.

But research online suggests that there are very few jobs in this sector. (As with many careers after Uni I suppose)
He's been volunteering with our local wildlife trust, but he's worried that with so few opportunities he would limit himself with pointless degree after 4yrs.

Has anybody got any experience in this area?

My nephew volunteered at a wildlife reserve, was taken on as an employee after two years, then worked his way up to running a reserve. Now he owns & runs a rewilding company.

He chose not to take a degree.

Pay was NMW to begin with. It got better as he was recognised for his skills & knowledge, but not a sector to choose for the salary alone.

My daughter got a 1st Undergrad in Environmental Conservation. She did masses of work experience including in Tanzania, Greece and Australia.
By Graduation the reality was beginning to sink in. Most Conservation work is done by volunteers and is very badly paid if at all.
She went on to do a PhD in Urban Sustainability and has worked her way up in the building industry to a Senior Consultant on 65k per year.
It can be done but he may have to be prepared to work many years for little pay and it also matters who you know...make sure he networks as much as possible and keeps his options open to other types of Conservation.
Ps. I worked for 19 years in Careers Advice at the biggest university in the UK.
It can be done but few clear career paths exist.

@ThisWiseRobinSo did your DD go back to University after completing her Conservation degree? Could DS go straight in to a urban sustainability course?

@Meadowfinch,that sounds like a much better career path, without the debt and he will have much more experience. Two brilliant ideas, thank you both.

Worth bearing in mind that not all ecologists work for charities. Local councils, developers, and consultancies hire ecologists to do ecological surveys and assess BNG requirements for housing developments etc. My husband works as a town planner and says if anything there is a shortage of trained ecologists in that area.
I also know people with ecology degrees who work in civil service, Forestry England, or museums.
Personally think if you are lucky enough to have a passion, go for it!

DS would love both these jobs (are they hiring? )

@RedSquirrelRoar,if you don't mind me asking, what was your DH's career path?

@SpinelessBastardsAll He would be far better advised to do a geography degree or a planning degree. Geography gives a much wider choice of careers and planning officers are in short supply. Going into a career where most people are volunteers and taking a very narrow degree is a waste of money. DN has never used an Environmental science degree - they are over supplied, earnings are the lowest of any science, and very important Environmental solutions are worked out by civil engineers! DS here cannot do engineering but he can certainly do a better degree than conservation if he wants paid work.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner,Thank you I hadn't even heard of that degree. I agree with the ES, his college want to phase out that A-level. Thank you

There’s a massive shortage of people working in planning. Wales have launched a scheme to train planners. And roles adjacent to it eg BNG. Either local government or for developers.
Public rights of way work in local government is an area that they really struggle to recruit to.
https://www.gov.wales/investment-boost-help-grow-waless-planning-workforce
I’d get him to contact a few local councils about work experience.
Committees are online so can watch and see if it’s something he’s interested in - the county council development control committee deals with quarries, fracking etc.

Excellent. You are correct. Like I said before, daughter ended up in the Construction industry and is loving it.

Daughter went straight from UG to PhD. Her PhD was offered to her as one of the local councils was looking at the viability of urban greenspace.
She did it over 4 years working full time on the bottom rung of the architect business and worked her way up from there through BREAM, some part time lecturing etc.
She was a wreck by the time she graduated but worth it.
Its a hugely rewarding field to be in.
Wildlife type conservation is really tough to be in, especially in africa. If he is interested in that type of conservation he will have to pay them to let him work for them.

@SpinelessBastardsAll Why would you do yet another narrow field though ? Why not attach it to planning? As a civil engineer, DH did loads of engineering for urban sustainability schemes. The Env Agency employs the people who dream these things up but they design nothing. There’s work with them of course but I don’t know how competitive it is.

Its not too hard to get into, but DC will need to have a driving licence and ideally a car, as many jobs require travel which isn't possible on public transport. Most of the charity jobs are totally grant funded, so are not secure.
Its great work, but hard going.

DD has just secured a conservation role (with a Wildlife Trust - conservation and rewilding) after completing a zoology degree with a year’s placement within conservation grazing. She found it extremely difficult to get a role and frankly only got this job in the WT she did her placement at because someone resigned (they were already extremely short staffed but if they can’t get the funding they can’t employ), they got in touch with her because they knew she could literally walk in and pick up the slack from day one. Shes under no illusions without that person resigning she would still be pounding the streets for Royal Mail which was the job she’d settled for prior. We thought she had a stellar CV, particularly after years of volunteering, plus a relevant degree and year in industry. There were conservation roles, and she applied for everything possible no matter where in the country it was, but they were either looking for senior people within proven work record in the field or - and this is the relevant bit - trainee starters. I thought she would be a shoo-in for those, but no, turns out every single one of them regarded her as too experienced 🤷‍♀️.
Like I said, she eventually got lucky, but it was hard for a long time.

Thank you everyone this advice is truly priceless

into, but DC will need to have a driving licence and ideally a car

Oh yeah - this 100% - and a manual driving licence is crucial. The WT DD is at has ancient vehicles (as will most of them), she’s taking her 26 year old Toyota truck for its MOT today in fact…..

Bloody hell @Judas,thats very sobering. Is she happy in that job or is she looking for other positions?

@Seagulldancing yikes, I'm liking this career less and less right now. Thank you for replying

DIL got a job straight away she works for a consulting firm and does lots of bat/badger/newt/plant counts. She already drove & had a car.

Many moons ago I did an environmental biology degree and wanted to go into conservation or some sort. After my degree I did a year of voluntary work leading volunteers doing hedge laying etc. but gave up in the end as no one was getting paid and those that were it was minimum wage.

Definitely think Urban planning or geography degree is the way to go - something less wishy washy that what I did.

Local Authority and Civil Service both have lots of job openings for ecologists or adjacent degrees. Ditto private companies, planning agents, anything related to development. Rules around biodiversity net gain (BNG) is creating a huge demand.
Conservation/charity work is deeply squeezed financially. I have 2 friends who are highly experienced, very capable women working in this field - one has just been made redundant and the other is looking for a way out as the finances are getting harder.

No direct experience but did talk to several people working in wildlife conservation in national parks or wildlife rescue abroad. They had found getting money challenging and charity funding can be short term and cut. They had found other ways to make money - one had a zoology degree, worked in a zoo then ran a B&B to help finance her wildlife rescue. One had a conservation degree, and worked as a BBC wildlife photographer, had got grants from charities initially for projects which then got stopped with covid. So he had set up a hotel. So fascinating but tough to make it work financially.

Also know environmental economists but these obviously have degrees with at least 50% economics in - one works for the World Bank evaluating their projects (he worked in finance before which can be a route in as gives a skill in need) and the others for civil service as economists but that can just be housing or evaluating Green Book funding of projects so duller than wildlife. But a relatively safe choice for employment and pays reasonably well.

I am on the board of a small conservation charity. We largely run based on volunteers, we have 2 paid roles and a solid 50% of their time is spent applying for and reporting on grants (ours are all awarded annually, we have no income for 2 months most years, we are very creative budgeters). Showing grant winning skills is highly prized in hiring!

She absolutely loves it. It’s a conservation grazing role and a notable rewilding project. Ironically, because of the way it came about, she’s on more money than she expected to be at this stage and if they ever get funding to employ the people they badly need, they will come in below her and she’ll be promoted more quickly than she would otherwise have been. But as I say, she’s under no illusion that it was luck - the person resigning wasn’t expected - and she would have still been looking. Although, on the plus side, she says Royal Mail wasn’t an awful place to work whilst she was searching!